In a victory for unions and grassroots organizers, Michigan voters struck down a law that allowed state-appointed emergency managers to renegotiate union contracts, change pension agreements and sell public assets to right the finances in fiscally-troubled communities.

Michiganders voted 52 percent to 48 percent, with 94 percent of precincts reporting, to strike down a referendum on Public Act 4. The law has been suspended since August, when opponents of the bill won a court decision to have the referendum placed on the ballot.

Public Act 4 expanded the powers granted to emergency managers in Michigan, strengthening an existing act of legislation for publicly-appointed EMs, PA 72. PA 4 wasn't just a rewrite of an old law -- it is the most sophisticated piece of legislation yet enacted by the state of Michigan to combat municipalities and school districts teetering on the edge of insolvency. The new act set up an early warning system that, following an audit, would allow the governor to appoint an EM to a municipality before it ran out of money. It also allowed the appointed officer to dissolve or abrogate existing collective bargaining agreements.

"I think this is a national problem. I think cost structures in the public sector got beyond even the private sector in terms of being expensive," Gov. Rick Snyder told The Huffington Post during an interview on the emergency manager legislation. For Michigan's municipal officials, "the path they had been on very consistently for decades was to continue going downhill. They were not successfully managing their cities. That's how they got in the crisis to begin with."

But opponents of PA 4 called the legislation, which has placed over half of the state's African-American population under an emergency manager or consent agreement, an attack on democracy. A coalition called Stand Up For Democracy mobilized a petition drive to place a referendum on PA 4 on the November 2012 ballot. They amassed over 200,000 signatures; after a court battle to certify the petition, that referendum made its way in front of voters this election.

Tony Paris, lead attorney for the Stand Up For Democracy coalition, told The Huffington Post that he feared the "manager" model of coping with communities in fiscal crisis could spread to other states if the proposal was affirmed.

"The reality is that the crisis results from decades of financial deregulation, policies transferring wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthy," Paris said. "Regardless of varying levels of failures on behalf of local officials ... the burdens of inadequate investment, employment, education, health care, law enforcement, housing, tax policy, insurance red-lining and transportation are far more the cause."

"And, we can’t be naïve enough to think that if and when things get better in Michigan, then our public unions, our public assets, and our public spaces are just going to be given back to us. They may be lost forever."

Attorney General Bill Schuette has indicated PA 72 will be back on the books, though his opinion could be challenged in courts by opponents to the law. Legislators may also choose to draft a new public act to address the duties of emergency managers

First of all, I'm sick and disgusted that this idiot that doesn't seem to know anything about the City of Detroit characterizes the problem as stemming from "burdens of inadequate investment, employment, education, health care, law enforcement, housing, tax policy, insurance red-lining and transportation are far more the cause," that just defies reality. The fact of the matter is that Detroit is a sinkhole rife with corruption and from Coleman Young to Kwaume Kilpatrick literally bands of African American thieves were running the City, elected by the African American electorate seemingly based on racist grounds (no white mayor had a chance at getting elected in the last 20 years).

That said, what I predict happening is one of two things: 1) The EMF law will be re-written with stricter guidelines and lower abilities, or 2) Snyder considers fixing Detroit more important than gaining re-election and simply takes the City into receivership. If the latter happens the City will be WISHING the EMF law was still on the books. That said, I expect the latter to happen after Snyder is "termed out" after his next re-election, IF he hasn't already fixed the issue through his toned down EMF proposal.

Snyder has done a great job so far, and it's going to be tough NOT to re-elect him. Michigan was just ranked 4th out of 50 for States with the greatest economic progress (put that in your pipe and smoke it Jenny!!!, and shove your Democrat policies up your cunt while you're at it!).

November 7th, 2012, 5:37 pm

frok

Varsity 1st Team

Joined: August 9th, 2004, 1:51 amPosts: 259Location: kalamazoo,mi

Re: Proposal 1 Fails, What Now for Detroit/Flint?

wjb21ndtown wrote:

Quote:

Michigan Proposal 1 Results: State Emergency Manager Law Fails

In a victory for unions and grassroots organizers, Michigan voters struck down a law that allowed state-appointed emergency managers to renegotiate union contracts, change pension agreements and sell public assets to right the finances in fiscally-troubled communities.

Michiganders voted 52 percent to 48 percent, with 94 percent of precincts reporting, to strike down a referendum on Public Act 4. The law has been suspended since August, when opponents of the bill won a court decision to have the referendum placed on the ballot.

Public Act 4 expanded the powers granted to emergency managers in Michigan, strengthening an existing act of legislation for publicly-appointed EMs, PA 72. PA 4 wasn't just a rewrite of an old law -- it is the most sophisticated piece of legislation yet enacted by the state of Michigan to combat municipalities and school districts teetering on the edge of insolvency. The new act set up an early warning system that, following an audit, would allow the governor to appoint an EM to a municipality before it ran out of money. It also allowed the appointed officer to dissolve or abrogate existing collective bargaining agreements.

"I think this is a national problem. I think cost structures in the public sector got beyond even the private sector in terms of being expensive," Gov. Rick Snyder told The Huffington Post during an interview on the emergency manager legislation. For Michigan's municipal officials, "the path they had been on very consistently for decades was to continue going downhill. They were not successfully managing their cities. That's how they got in the crisis to begin with."

But opponents of PA 4 called the legislation, which has placed over half of the state's African-American population under an emergency manager or consent agreement, an attack on democracy. A coalition called Stand Up For Democracy mobilized a petition drive to place a referendum on PA 4 on the November 2012 ballot. They amassed over 200,000 signatures; after a court battle to certify the petition, that referendum made its way in front of voters this election.

Tony Paris, lead attorney for the Stand Up For Democracy coalition, told The Huffington Post that he feared the "manager" model of coping with communities in fiscal crisis could spread to other states if the proposal was affirmed.

"The reality is that the crisis results from decades of financial deregulation, policies transferring wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthy," Paris said. "Regardless of varying levels of failures on behalf of local officials ... the burdens of inadequate investment, employment, education, health care, law enforcement, housing, tax policy, insurance red-lining and transportation are far more the cause."

"And, we can’t be naïve enough to think that if and when things get better in Michigan, then our public unions, our public assets, and our public spaces are just going to be given back to us. They may be lost forever."

Attorney General Bill Schuette has indicated PA 72 will be back on the books, though his opinion could be challenged in courts by opponents to the law. Legislators may also choose to draft a new public act to address the duties of emergency managers

First of all, I'm sick and disgusted that this idiot that doesn't seem to know anything about the City of Detroit characterizes the problem as stemming from "burdens of inadequate investment, employment, education, health care, law enforcement, housing, tax policy, insurance red-lining and transportation are far more the cause," that just defies reality. The fact of the matter is that Detroit is a sinkhole rife with corruption and from Coleman Young to Kwaume Kilpatrick literally bands of African American thieves were running the City, elected by the African American electorate seemingly based on racist grounds (no white mayor had a chance at getting elected in the last 20 years).

That said, what I predict happening is one of two things: 1) The EMF law will be re-written with stricter guidelines and lower abilities, or 2) Snyder considers fixing Detroit more important than gaining re-election and simply takes the City into receivership. If the latter happens the City will be WISHING the EMF law was still on the books. That said, I expect the latter to happen after Snyder is "termed out" after his next re-election, IF he hasn't already fixed the issue through his toned down EMF proposal.

Snyder has done a great job so far, and it's going to be tough NOT to re-elect him. Michigan was just ranked 4th out of 50 for States with the greatest economic progress (put that in your pipe and smoke it Jenny!!!,and shove your Democrat policies up your cunt while you're at it!).

Gee....please tell us how you really feel.

_________________I feel more like I do now than when I first got here.

Last edited by TheRealWags on November 8th, 2012, 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Fixed color

November 7th, 2012, 8:41 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: Proposal 1 Fails, What Now for Detroit/Flint?

I leave it all on the table!

November 8th, 2012, 4:45 pm

Blueskies

Player of the Year - Offense

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 2882

Re: Proposal 1 Fails, What Now for Detroit/Flint?

Let them go to bankruptcy court.

Screw over the bond holders, dump the pension obligations.

Take the money saved and double the police force. Going into bankruptcy would be the best thing that ever happened to Detroit.